Effective use of counter space and being time efficient are two issues facing most people. Today's lifestyles are busier and faster paced than in simpler times past, plus the average person's living quarters are becoming more and more crowded with all of the modern gadgets and conveniences now available.
These issues have created a need for appliances that free-up counter top space as well as cabinet space while eliminating some of the steps in selected repetitive kitchen tasks
To address these issues a well-designed kitchen appliance ideally should make the best possible use of counter and cabinet space in addition to doing the job for which it is designed. For example, a well designed appliance ideally should:
1) Make the job easier
2) Elevate convenience for the user as compared to conventional methods
3) Save time for the user by reducing the number of steps previously required to perform the same task.
4) Require less counter space or better still, no counter space at all or for its own existence and
5) Reclaim entirely, or to the greatest extent possible, the space previously required to store those items associated with the appliance's function and purpose.
In general, the footprint required to operate any device is at least twice the footprint required for simply storing the appliance. Therefore, the need exists to increase available storage space without diminishing existing work area surface space.
Virtually every household stores, dispenses and prepares a variety of dry, flowable consumables such as coffees, teas, infant dry mix cereals, infant formulas, whole food powders, protein powders etc. on a regular basis. In addition to dispensing these products and preparing them for consumption an area is dedicated to storing the consumable itself. The consumable is traditionally stored in its original package, which requires space in the kitchen cabinets or the kitchen pantry. Additionally, optimizing the preparation workflow process requires positioning the raw goods and the appliances as closely together as possible.
Time and motion considerations, process sequence and work order flows are important when trying to achieve maximum efficiency in any preparation effort. Wasted seconds add up to wasted minutes. Consideration must be given to the position and the flow of the raw goods from the beginning through all the steps required in the preparation process—all the way to final product to be consumed by a user.
Coffee has emerged as a beverage of choice for the majority of Americans. A reported 80% of those over the age of 18 drink an average of 3.3 cups daily. Today, coffee is available in many blends, brewed and consumed in exotic forms like Espressos, Cappuccinos and Lattes. The trend is clear. People are drinking more coffee. In addition to coffee, there is the myriad of exotic teas available from all over world.
The preparation process workflow in a kitchen is similar to process flows in a large manufacturing facility. Both the kitchen and manufacturing plant create a consumable product which begins with raw goods and present a finished product at the end of the line. A number of repetitive steps are involved in every consumer's daily coffee or tea brewing ritual.
A time and motion study illustration of the maneuvers and ergonomics involved in preparing a simple cup of coffee are as follows:                1) Purchase the coffee beans or ground coffee        2) When returning from the store, remove the coffee from the vehicle and carry it into the kitchen        3) Remove coffee from the grocery bag        4) Find a place in the pantry or cabinet to store the coffee. When ready to prepare a cup of coffee        5) Walk to the pantry or cabinet        6) Retrieve the coffee beans or ground coffee        7) Carry the beans or pre-ground from the panty or cabinet to the counter area where the coffee maker is positioned.        8) Open the container        9) Scoop the desired amount of beans or pre-ground coffee via a measuring spoon into a bean grinder (steps requiring the grinding of beans is obviously not required for pre-ground coffee)        10) Grind the beans        11) Retrieve a filter from the cabinet or panty and place it into the coffee maker.        12) Pour the ground beans or pre-grind into the filter.        13) Add water to the coffee maker and brew.        14) Reseal the container in which the remaining beans or pre-grind will be stored        15) Carry the beans to the pantry        16) Place container of beans on the pantry or cabinet shelf        17) Walk back to the coffee maker.        
Another issue is the cumbersome and usually messy reach into the mouth of a large jar to scoop a flowable, powered type of product as the level of the flowable itself drops, due to consumption of the product. Many companies who provide powdered green food supplements, bodybuilding supplements and other powdered or otherwise dry flowable products, package these products in large plastic jar containers. These containers range in size from approximately 600 content grams to as many as 4000 content grams. These containers do an excellent job as retail display vehicles and provide the consumer a stable, wide base, airtight container in which they will store the product between uses. In practice however, these containers are sold by weight, not by volume and the volume puts the consumable level at about ½ the container depth making it always necessary for the consumer to blindly reach a hand into the jar to find the measuring scoop supplied and to retrieve the product one scoop at a time.
Several problems occur in this situation:                1) Some hands, especially the hands of a body builder, are too large to easily fit past the opening making it difficult to reach the scoop and retrieve the product especially once the level has dropped significantly from top of the opening which again is usually from the time of purchase.        2) Hands which fit through the opening will inevitably get the product all over both the front and back of the hand, the wrist and even the lower arm, which often includes a shirtsleeve. This is usually unavoidable since powdered remnants cling to the sidewalls and around the container neck. In addition to this aggravation, there is the wasted time and cleanup are required to rid the hands, arm and shirt of the remnants of the pricy flowable, which generally winds up on the countertop as the scoop is withdrawn in an effort to keep the scoop upright.        
With the availability of attractive and affordable home coffee and tea systems that can now make as little as one cup at a time, consumers finds themselves with a wider selection to choose from and less counter and shelf space than ever to store the associated brewing paraphernalia.
Due to these and others reasons, there is a need for a new appliance to reclaim precious counter and pantry space, reduce the number steps involved in the whole preparation process in addition to simplifying the actual steps involved in the brewing process while reclaiming precious time currently wasted in the repetitious process.
Related art that addresses these and other problems includes the following patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,184,379, issued to Ritter on May 23, 1916, discloses a supporting device for flour bins and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,535,476, issued to Anderson on Dec. 26, 1950, discloses a material handling apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,551,305, issued to Tompkins on May 1, 1951, discloses a kitchen cabinet.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,097,765, issued to Newton on Jul. 16, 1963, discloses an apparatus for puncturing and dispensing a measured quantity of material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,980, issued to Fricano et al. on Dec. 8, 1998, discloses an overhead storage cabinet having a housing defined by top and bottom wall rigidly joined by end walls to define an interior storage compartment therein. A door assembly is vertically swingably mounted on the housing and includes a door panel which vertically closes a front access opening of the housing when in an open position, and which swings upwardly into an open position wherein the door panel is stored generally above the top wall. The door assembly includes end panels which exteriorly overlap and are hingedly couple to the end walls. The end panels mount one or more counterweight elements adjacent the ends thereof to counterbalance the door panel weight. The number or position of counterweight elements is selected in accordance with the longitudinal length of the door panel. The end panel also has an edge profile provided with a grip part which moves between positions disposed adjacent the lower rear and lower front corners of the housing as the door is respectively swingably moved between closed and open positions to facilitate access thereto and convenient manual swinging of the door, particularly in the closing direction. The door panel and top wall of the housing also have an interlock extending longitudinally therealong and engaged when the door is closed to prevent outward bowing of the door relative to the housing.
While these patents and other previous methods have attempted to solve the problems that they addressed, none have utilized or disclosed a combined space-saving storage and dispensing device, as does embodiments of the technology disclosed herein.
Therefore, a need exists for a combined space-saving storage and dispensing device with these attributes and functionalities. The combined space-saving storage and dispensing device according to embodiments of the invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art. It can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved combined space-saving storage and dispensing device which can be used commercially. In this regard, the technology disclosed herein substantially fulfills these objectives.
The foregoing patent and other information reflect the state of the art of which the inventor is aware and are tendered with a view toward discharging the inventor's acknowledged duty of candor in disclosing information that may be pertinent to the patentability of the technology disclosed herein. It is respectfully stipulated, however, that the foregoing patent and other information do not teach or render obvious, singly or when considered in combination, the inventor's claimed invention.